The good news, folks, is that The WhimWham is not dead. The even better news is that I’m also writing for a brand new group blog called Bleat!—I’ve got some very good friends on it with me, and I think it’ll be a great success.

However, this blog will, necessarily, be a little bit more personal and less commentary-driven—a greater focus on my own little quirky obsessions. Hope you still enjoy it.

Media Watch last night was pretty extraordinary—Elizabeth Taylor personally slammed the show after an “interview” with Taylor in Vogue Australia was revealed to be a patchwork assemblage of quotes from Taylor from previous interviews and even from her own book.

For what’s it’s worth, according to Media Watch, it was Christine Bookallil, the Sydney rep for House of Taylor Jewelry who received the answers from the LA rep, which (presumably) Vogue Australia simply printed.

So here’s what Taylor had to say about all of this:

This is Elizabeth Taylor and I heard you were doing a piece on Christine in the Australian Vogue. We know each other very well. Anything, any quotes that she may have come up with are things that I have said before and if you want reference they’re in the jewellery book that I did. It’s what I say about certain things and she certainly wasn’t making it up. I respect her and adore her. She’s a good woman and whoever is out after her should be put down. I don’t mean like a dog but she should - that’s not a bad idea - she should be ticked off.

Note that Taylor confirms the version portrayed by Media Watch. Taylor’s lawyer, on the other hand, claims that Taylor has confirmed to him that Bookallil conducted an interview with her. So which is it?

Bizarre, to say the least.

No, it’s not a new dance move, nor is it the latest sexual kink—it’s a catchy new name for a voting trend observed in the latest Herald/ACNielsen poll.

The polls, of course, may be inaccurate, but what’s going on here is larger than the polls. General sentiment seems to be that the Government has lost the election already, and once again, perception is everything. All that matters here is that people like Rudd and want change, and anyone denying this looks as pathetic as the ALP True Believers in the final days of the Keating Government.

Only today I mentioned the band’s name—I must have retroactively killed him!

Brad Delp, the lead singer for the band Boston, was found dead Friday in his home in southern New Hampshire. He was 55.

Atkinson police responded to a call for help at 1:20 p.m. and found Delp dead. Lt. William Baldwin said in a news release that there was no indication of foul play.

I’ve got more than a feeling that Boston won’t be touring soon.

The latest Morgan Poll results:

The first Morgan Poll taken after ‘Burkegate’ (March 3/4) shows support for the ALP on a two-party preferred basis unchanged (from the previous weekend - February 24/25) at a record high 61.5%, 38.5% L-NP.

Primary support for the Coalition Government is at its lowest level since June 2001, 33% (down 13.4% since the 2004 election).

Despite the swarm of publicity and repeated attacks from the Government over Labor leader Kevin Rudd’s meetings with disgraced lobbyist Brian Burke in 2005, primary support for the ALP is down just 1% to 51.5% (up 14.4% since the 2004 election).

However, as Bryan at The Oz Politics Blog notes, “the margins predicted by Morgan are an overstatement — perhaps a gross overstatement.” While I agree, the point to me seems largely irrelevant—the Burke scandal has done little more than nick the Opposition, and the trend in general looks incredibly grim for the Coalition. Something big would need to occur between now and the election for there to be another Howard victory.

Make no mistake about it: the voting public want a new government and see the Kevin Rudd/Brian Burke scandal as much ado about nothing. Yes, it revealed Rudd to be a politician, but (ironically) by making these accusations it made John Howard and Peter Costello look even more like politicians.

Meanwhile…

Mr Howard confirmed the West Australian Liberal MP Geoff Prosser had paid Mr Burke for lobbying services. “So what?” he said.

and

Australian Federal Police officers raided the offices of three Queensland federal Liberal MPs - Gary Hardgrave, Andrew Laming and Ross Vasta - on Friday.

News of the raids emerged publicly overnight.

The raids are reportedly linked to allegations of abuse of electoral allowances, but the MPs involved have denied any wrongdoing.

Costello and Howard have painted themselves into a corner, and there’s no getting around it.

Has the Government’s blatant smear campaign against Kevin Rudd damaged his standing amongst voters?

Going by the latest Newspoll figures, the answer is no. The two party preferred figure is now 57/43 in favour of the ALP—an increase for Labor of 3%!

Expect Howard to psychologically crumble in the coming days and weeks…

(I’ll have a source for those figures tomorrow.)

In what has to be the most pathetic display yet from our morally-bankrupt PM comes this gem of a quote:

“I mean what [Kevin Rudd] did to Alexander Downer and Mark Vaile month after month through the AWB incident, reeked of personal criticism,” Mr Howard told Southern Cross radio.

Well, when you put it like that, maybe Downer and Vaile should have been held accountable over the AWB scandal.

Wait, that’s not his point? Oh, well in that case, cry me a river.

As Jeremy Sear writes:

Rudd: Had lunch with Brian Burke.
Downer, Vaile, Howard: Pretended not to notice whilst the AWB defrauded the Iraqi people of $300 million set aside to buy them food, to give it to Saddam Hussein to buy weapons to use against us.

Howard is really losing it if he thinks reminding people about the AWB scandal will serve his interests…

So now that Ian Campbell has resigned, giving the Government back the high ground, Kevin Rudd is again on the backfoot. Rudd, for what it’s worth, has challenged John Howard to call an early election (not that he will, of course).

Will Rudd weather this storm-in-a-teacup? The next week will be interesting indeed.

Will Al Gore be running for the US presidency? Watch this space!

According to today’s Sydney Morning Herald, the true indicator of Gore’s presidential ambitions is his gym attendance: American’s won’t vote for fatties, it seems.

Beyond that, Gore’s weight is apparently symbolic of his lack of political motivation (according to PMRC-veteran Tipper Gore). One can only assume that when Al starts hitting the ‘roids, Hillary’s SOL when it comes to winning the primaries.

GORE FOR PRESIDENT!!!

Anyone who meets with former WA premier Brian Burke is “morally and politically compromised,” according to Peter Costello.

Good thing to know, since the current Minister for Human Services, Ian Campbell, met with Burke last year.

According to New Yorker columnist Seymour Hersh…

Hersh says the U.S. has been “pumping money, a great deal of money, without congressional authority, without any congressional oversight” for covert operations in the Middle East where it wants to “stop the Shiite spread or the Shiite influence.” Hersh says these funds have ended up in the hands of “three Sunni jihadist groups” who are “connected to al Qaeda” but “want to take on Hezbollah.”

Is anyone that surprised?